Bitcoin-Friendly Payment Processor Stripe Raises New Funding, Partners with Visa and American Express

Payment processor Stripe has raised new funding from Visa, American Express, Sequoia Capital and other investors, valuing the company at $5 billion, The New York Timesreports. The new funding comes six months after a previous funding round of $70 million, at a $3.5 billion valuation. Stripe didn’t disclose the amount of new funding, and said only that it was “less than $100 million.”

American Express and Sequoia Capital were existing investors in Stripe, but Visa and venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers are new investors, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The most interesting aspect of the deal is the acquisition of Visa, one of the world’s largest credit card companies, as an investor and a partner. Stripe and Visa announced a partnership to improve digital transactions, and expect to collaborate on initiatives such as payments security, as well as software like website “buy buttons.” Stripe, currently available in 25 countries, hopes to take advantage of Visa’s global reach to expand its international presence.

“As Stripe thinks about the best ways to move the overall payments ecosystem forward, the biggest determinants on the financial side are the credit card networks,” Patrick Collison, co-founder and chief executive of Stripe, told The Times. “We hope to continue working closely with them.”

“Stripe is not competing with the card networks,” added Michael Moritz, a partner at Sequoia Capital and Stripe board member. “The fact that Visa has chosen to invest in Stripe, not in PayPal, is of absolutely huge significance.”

In fact, PayPal, which recently separated from its former parent company eBay and is now an independent company, is positioning itself as a competitor and an alternative to credit card networks. Stripe, on the contrary, collaborates with the major credit card networks and positions itself as a complementary service.

Stripe launched in September 2011 to challenge legacy payment processors and now processes billions of dollars a year for thousands of businesses, from newly-launched start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. The company focuses on mobile payments, one of the fastest growing segments of the payments sector. Forrester Research estimates that Americans will spend $90 billion through mobile devices in 2017. Stripe takes 2.9 percent of most transactions processed via its platform, plus a flat commission of 30 cents per charge.

Stripe is known as a bitcoin-friendly company. The company, which first started testing bitcoin in March 2014 with an open beta program, launched operational support for bitcoin in February.

“We want to enable merchants to add new payment instruments as easily as possible, and are really happy we’ve been able to provide Bitcoin support to Stripe Checkout users with just one extra line of code,” said Collison.

American Express and Visa haven’t been overly bitcoin-friendly so far – and MasterCard has been openly and bluntly opposed to Bitcoin – because the three credit card networks understand very well that bitcoin could start eating their lunch someday soon. However, it appears that all three companies are exploring uses of bitcoin and the blockchain. Funding and collaborating with Stripe could be a way for American Express and Visa to gradually integrate selected aspects of bitcoin and blockchain-based fintech into their own operations.

Payment processor Stripe has raised new funding from Visa, American Express, Sequoia Capital and other investors, valuing the company at $5 billion, The New York Timesreports. The new funding comes six months after a previous funding round of $70 million, at a $3.5 billion valuation. Stripe didn’t disclose the amount of new funding, and said only that it was “less than $100 million.”

American Express and Sequoia Capital were existing investors in Stripe, but Visa and venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers are new investors, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The most interesting aspect of the deal is the acquisition of Visa, one of the world’s largest credit card companies, as an investor and a partner. Stripe and Visa announced a partnership to improve digital transactions, and expect to collaborate on initiatives such as payments security, as well as software like website “buy buttons.” Stripe, currently available in 25 countries, hopes to take advantage of Visa’s global reach to expand its international presence.

“As Stripe thinks about the best ways to move the overall payments ecosystem forward, the biggest determinants on the financial side are the credit card networks,” Patrick Collison, co-founder and chief executive of Stripe, told The Times. “We hope to continue working closely with them.”

“Stripe is not competing with the card networks,” added Michael Moritz, a partner at Sequoia Capital and Stripe board member. “The fact that Visa has chosen to invest in Stripe, not in PayPal, is of absolutely huge significance.”

In fact, PayPal, which recently separated from its former parent company eBay and is now an independent company, is positioning itself as a competitor and an alternative to credit card networks. Stripe, on the contrary, collaborates with the major credit card networks and positions itself as a complementary service.

Stripe launched in September 2011 to challenge legacy payment processors and now processes billions of dollars a year for thousands of businesses, from newly-launched start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. The company focuses on mobile payments, one of the fastest growing segments of the payments sector. Forrester Research estimates that Americans will spend $90 billion through mobile devices in 2017. Stripe takes 2.9 percent of most transactions processed via its platform, plus a flat commission of 30 cents per charge.

Stripe is known as a bitcoin-friendly company. The company, which first started testing bitcoin in March 2014 with an open beta program, launched operational support for bitcoin in February.

“We want to enable merchants to add new payment instruments as easily as possible, and are really happy we’ve been able to provide Bitcoin support to Stripe Checkout users with just one extra line of code,” said Collison.

American Express and Visa haven’t been overly bitcoin-friendly so far – and MasterCard has been openly and bluntly opposed to Bitcoin – because the three credit card networks understand very well that bitcoin could start eating their lunch someday soon. However, it appears that all three companies are exploring uses of bitcoin and the blockchain. Funding and collaborating with Stripe could be a way for American Express and Visa to gradually integrate selected aspects of bitcoin and blockchain-based fintech into their own operations.

Bitcoin-Friendly Payment Processor Stripe Raises New Funding, Partners with Visa and American Express

Payment processor Stripe has raised new funding from Visa, American Express, Sequoia Capital and other investors, valuing the company at $5 billion, The New York Timesreports. The new funding comes six months after a previous funding round of $70 million, at a $3.5 billion valuation. Stripe didn’t disclose the amount of new funding, and said only that it was “less than $100 million.”

American Express and Sequoia Capital were existing investors in Stripe, but Visa and venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers are new investors, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The most interesting aspect of the deal is the acquisition of Visa, one of the world’s largest credit card companies, as an investor and a partner. Stripe and Visa announced a partnership to improve digital transactions, and expect to collaborate on initiatives such as payments security, as well as software like website “buy buttons.” Stripe, currently available in 25 countries, hopes to take advantage of Visa’s global reach to expand its international presence.

“As Stripe thinks about the best ways to move the overall payments ecosystem forward, the biggest determinants on the financial side are the credit card networks,” Patrick Collison, co-founder and chief executive of Stripe, told The Times. “We hope to continue working closely with them.”

“Stripe is not competing with the card networks,” added Michael Moritz, a partner at Sequoia Capital and Stripe board member. “The fact that Visa has chosen to invest in Stripe, not in PayPal, is of absolutely huge significance.”

In fact, PayPal, which recently separated from its former parent company eBay and is now an independent company, is positioning itself as a competitor and an alternative to credit card networks. Stripe, on the contrary, collaborates with the major credit card networks and positions itself as a complementary service.

Stripe launched in September 2011 to challenge legacy payment processors and now processes billions of dollars a year for thousands of businesses, from newly-launched start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. The company focuses on mobile payments, one of the fastest growing segments of the payments sector. Forrester Research estimates that Americans will spend $90 billion through mobile devices in 2017. Stripe takes 2.9 percent of most transactions processed via its platform, plus a flat commission of 30 cents per charge.

Stripe is known as a bitcoin-friendly company. The company, which first started testing bitcoin in March 2014 with an open beta program, launched operational support for bitcoin in February.

“We want to enable merchants to add new payment instruments as easily as possible, and are really happy we’ve been able to provide Bitcoin support to Stripe Checkout users with just one extra line of code,” said Collison.

American Express and Visa haven’t been overly bitcoin-friendly so far – and MasterCard has been openly and bluntly opposed to Bitcoin – because the three credit card networks understand very well that bitcoin could start eating their lunch someday soon. However, it appears that all three companies are exploring uses of bitcoin and the blockchain. Funding and collaborating with Stripe could be a way for American Express and Visa to gradually integrate selected aspects of bitcoin and blockchain-based fintech into their own operations.

MANSFIELD, PENNSYLVANIA- July 27, 2015 - Citizens Financial Services, Inc. (OTC BB:
CZFS), parent company of First Citizens Community Bank, has released its unaudited financial performance
for the three and six months ended June 30, 2015.
For the three months ended June 30, 2015 net income totaled $3,189,000 which compares to net income of
$3,365,000 for the second quarter of 2014, which is a decrease of $176,000, or 5.2%. Earnings per share of
$1.06 for the second quarter compares to $1.11 for the second quarter last year. Annualized return on equity for the comparable periods was 12.45% and 13.88%, while return on assets was 1.36% and 1.49%, respectively.
For the six months ended June 30, 2015, net income totaled $6,309,000 which compares to net income of
$6,541,000 for the comparable 2014 period. This represents a decrease of $232,000, or 3.5%. Earnings per
share of $2.09 for the first six months of 2015 compares to $2.15 last year. Annualized return on equity for the comparable periods was 12.41% and 13.63%, while return on assets was 1.36% and 1.45%, respectively.
Net interest income before the provision for loan loss has decreased from $15,162,000 for the six months ended June 30, 2014, to $15,148,000 for 2015. For the six months ended June 30, 2015, interest income
decreased $131,000, which has been offset by a decrease in interest expense of $117,000. The margin has decreased from 3.89% last year to 3.81% for 2015. CEO and President Randall E. Black stated, “Despite
the ongoing yield curve challenges that we and other banks are forced to deal with, our financial results remain strong and compare favorably to peers. The challenging yield curve has resulted in continued
pressure on the tax-effected yield on interest earning assets, which has decreased from 4.48% for the six months ended June 30, 2014 to 4.36% this year. The cost of interest bearing liabilities has also declined,
from .71% last year to .67% in 2015. We have been able to mitigate the declining margin with positive growth in interest earning assets, particularly average loans, which have increased by $25.9 million compared
to June 30, 2014”. The provision for loan losses decreased $90,000 for the comparable periods.
At June 30, 2015, total assets were $942.5 million, up from total assets of $914.2 million as of June 30, 2014 and up $17.5 million from total assets of $925.0 million at December 31, 2014. Compared to December 31,
2014, available for sale investments have decreased $1.3 million, mostly due to unattractive yields in the market. However, net loans have increased $17.4 million, or 3.2%, compared to the end of last year.
Contributing to this growth is the continued success in growing loans and deposits in the new branch in the
Mill Hall / Lock Haven market. Asset quality remains strong, and continues to improve, with non-
performing assets to total loans at 1.61% as of June 30, 2015 compared to 1.67% at year end and 1.70% last
June. Annualized net charge-offs as a percent of average loans is very low at .03%.
Stockholders’ equity totaled $103.2 million at June 30, 2015, which compares to $100.5 million at December
31, 2014 and $98.2 million at June 30, 2014. For 2015, net income of $6.3 million was offset by cash dividends of $2.4 million and treasury share purchases of $1.0 million. Additionally, the unrealized gain on
available for sale investment securities decreased $.5 million from the end of 2014 as a result of changes in interest rates impacting the fair value of investment securities. A cash dividend of $.405 per share was paid
on June 26, 2015 to shareholders of record on June 19, 2015. This quarterly cash dividend is an increase of
5.2% over the dividend declared a year ago, adjusted for stock dividends. “Capital levels are very strong and
our continued strong financial performance has permitted us to continue paying an attractive cash dividend and reflects the Board of Directors’ desire to provide total shareholder return to our shareholder base. Our
strong capital position has also enabled us to seek growth opportunities, including our recently announced signing of a definitive merger agreement to acquire The First National Bank of Fredericksburg. We are
excited about the tremendous opportunity to grow our franchise and expand into the Lebanon Valley
Region of Pennsylvania, added Mr. Black”.
Citizens Financial Services, Inc. has over 1,500 shareholders, the majority of whom reside in Potter, Tioga, and Bradford Counties, Pennsylvania and Allegany County, New York, where their 18 offices are located.

Note: This press release may contain forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of

1995. Actual results and trends could differ materially from those set forth in such statements due to various factors. These factors include operating, legal and regulatory risks; changing economic and competitive conditions and other risks and uncertainties.